Getting Started With Design Spark PCB 6.0

This was made to show you how to get started with Design Spark PCB. Here’s what I cover:

1) Getting Started with the Schematic Capturer
2) Creating a Custom Component
3) Getting Started with the PCB Capturer

A QUICK NOTE: I assume that you already have Design Spark PCB 6.0 installed and that you have basic knowledge of how to use a computer. Also I am using Windows 7 Home Premium. So if you’re running something different then it most likely will not look like the screen shots I show.

1 Getting Started with the Schematic Capturer

Click File -> New. A new window will pop up. Check the “Schematic Design” box. Click OK. You should see something like this:

Click Add -> Component (or you can click the little TO-220 component up in the upper left corner). A new window will come up where you can select what component you want to add to your schematic. If you don’t see the component you want then type Ctrl + M and you should see this:

This is the “ModelSource Bar” where you can find premade schematic/PCB symbols. NOTE: you must have an account with DesignSpark to use ModelSource. You have two ways to search for a component: You can use the drop down list labeled “CLICK TO CHOOSE” or you can type the part number in the “Part Number Quick Search”. Once you find your component, click the “Load Preview” button, then click the Use Component” button and the program will save the component to a library. If you want to rotate a schematic symbol, right click on it and hold your mouse pointer over “Rotate” in the drop down list and you get a bunch of different options of angles. Once you get all your components you want on the page, click Add -> Connection (or you can click the little pencil with a line coming out of it in the upper left corner). Now click one of the little X’s on one of the components and then click on another component’s X and the pins are connected. Once you get all of the pins connected, double click on a component and this window should pop up:

The boxes that are checked are the ones that will show up on the schematic. If you click on the values tab you can enter the stuff you want the schematic symbol to say.

2 Creating a Custom Component

Click File -> Libraries. Click on the schematic symbols tab. Select the user library from the drop down list. You should see something like this:

Click the “Wizard” button and go through all of the steps, then save your symbol to the user library. Next click the “PCB Symbols” tab and then click the “Wizard” button again. Go through all of the steps in the “Wizard” and then save it to the user library. Now click on the “Components” tab and then click on the “New Item” button. You should see this:

Now type in your component name to the “Component” text box. The “Description” text box is just for reference. The “Package” text box is where you put DIP, SIP or whatever your component is. The “Default Reference” text box is what will appear on the schematic and PCB to ID your component (i.e.: a resistor would be “R”, a capacitor would be “C”, etc). Next find your schematic symbol in the “Schematic Symbol” box. Do the same for your PCB symbol. Click OK. Now you should see something like this:

There are two buttons on the upper left corner. They look like this:

They are for aligning the schematic symbol pins to the PCB symbol pins. The top one is a manual alignment (click on a pin of the schematic symbol and then on one of the PCB symbol pins and it aligns them). The bottom button is an automatic alignment. Once you align your pins, you can enter your pin names in the far left window under the “Sch Symbol Terminal Name” text. Then save your component by clicking File -> Save. Or you can click on the floppy disk icon in the upper left corner.

3 Getting Started with the PCB Capturer

There are two ways of creating a PCB with DesignSpark PCB.

Method 1

Click File -> New. A window will pop up. Check the “PCB Design” box. Click OK. It will bring up the “PCB Wizard”. The “Wizard” will guide you through the process of creating a PCB. Once you finish you should see something like this:

You can add components just like you can do with the schematic capturer. *End of method 1*

Method 2

Create a schematic, then click Tools -> Translate to PCB. It will bring up the “PCB Wizard” and walk you through the process of creating a new PCB. *End of method 2*

When you want to add a track, click Add -> Track (or you can click the pencil with a track coming off of it in the upper left corner), then type S and you should see something like this:

You can select a set track width or you can make your own. To make your own, type your desired track width into the “Width” box and type a track name in the “New Style” box. Click OK. To switch layers, type Shift + L. To copper pour, click the Icon that looks like this:

Click on the board where you want the copper pour. Once you get the outline in the shape you want, right click, then click on “Finish Here” in the drop down list. Click on the mouse icon in the top of the window, then right click on one of the sides of the outline for the copper pour, then click “Pour Copper” in the drop down list. It will bring up a window that should look like this:

Click on the net that you want to be connected to the copper. Click OK. To see a 3D view of your board Click 3D -> 3D view.

Thanks for reading!

Special Thanks to RS Components for the use of the images of their software!